Here are some recent “Duh” moments. I saved these ideas on my iPhone’s note pad over the past two months.

Duh No. 46: Light Switch Timer

For years I have had trouble setting the timer that turns on and off the lights in our dining room. Then, recently, I discovered that if I pull out the circular knob while turning it, Duh, the timer works perfectly.  The pullout action appears to free the mechanism from tripping the circuit.

Duh No. 47: Belt Without Holes

The great thing about this belt is that when I need to tighten my belt, I don't need to awkwardly look down to find a belt hole for the buckle to contact. I don't have to continually punch new belt holes.  The belt looks a whole lot smarter than those old ones with twenty-odd holes.

Duh No. 48: Water Weights

I discovered I can put my hand weights halfway in the water and get just the right amount of resistance. It beats the too-easy moving of the weights under water, and the too-difficult moving of the weights above the water.

Duh No. 49: More Calcium

Hey, I can drink two glasses of milk and two cups of orange juice a day, and that will double my daily calcium intake. It's so easy, not very expensive, and it may even help with my osteoporosis.

Duh No. 50: Goodbye, Cowlick

I recently discovered that I can cut my own cowlick, and I can still look pretty good. This way I can go for a much longer time without a haircut.

Duh No. 51: Pool Pipe Leak

For months I noticed a leak from a pipe in the inlet side of my pool. I thought it was a leak I would have to one day repair by first draining the pool. But the other day, I happily realized that all I had to do was tighten the ring around the pipe. The leak stopped.

Duh No. 52: Super Scan

I can scan papers into my printer/scanner so much more quickly now.  Last week I realized that I have a “scanner loader” on my printer that holds many papers, and scans them rapidly. I am now motivated to scan in those myriad documents in the file cabinets, and then throw away the files.

Duh No. 53: Water Pitcher Filter

For two months I was overjoyed at seeing how quickly my water pitcher filled up with water from the faucet. Yesterday, my visiting son showed me that the filter was not seated correctly. Now that the filter is correctly inserted into the pitcher, the sink water trickles into the pitcher, but at least it filters the water. Duh. I had drunk unfiltered water for two months, and thrown away a perfectly good filter cartridge.

Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com